Current Trends and Future Developments On Bio Membranes Membrane Technology For Water and Wastewater Treatment Advances and Emerging Processes Angelo Basile Antonio Comite Full Chapter

Current Trends and Future
Developments on (Bio-) Membranes

Membrane Technology for Water and
Wastewater Treatment - Advances and
Emerging Processes Angelo Basile■
Antonio Comite
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Current Trends
and Future Developments
on (Bio-) Membranes
Current Trends
and Future Developments
on (Bio-) Membranes
Membrane Technology for Water and
Wastewater Treatment - Advances
and Emerging Processes
Edited by
Angelo Basile
Institute on Membrane Technology of the
Italian National Research Council,
c/o University of Calabria, Rende (CS), Italy
Antonio Comite
Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale,
Università degli Studi di Genova, Genova, Italy
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Contents
List of contributors .............................................................................................. xiii

Preface................................................................................................................. xv
Part I Advances in novel membrane technologies for water

and wastewater ...................................................................................... 1
Chapter 1: Wastewater treatment by membrane distillation ..................................... 3

Antonio Comite, Marcello Pagliero and Camilla Costa
1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 3
1.2 Overview of membrane distillation ..................................................................... 4
1.3 Membrane distillation configurations .................................................................. 6
1.4 Membranes ........................................................................................................... 8
1.5 Membrane modules ............................................................................................ 10
1.6 Wastewater treatment by membrane distillation ............................................... 12
1.6.1 Parameters affecting membrane distillation
performance .............................................................................................. 13
1.6.2 Desalination and brine treatment .............................................................. 14
1.6.3 Industrial wastewater treatment ................................................................ 15
1.6.4 Membrane distillation hybrid systems....................................................... 19
1.6.5 Fouling in membrane distillation .............................................................. 23
1.6.6 Economics of membrane distillation ......................................................... 26
1.7 Conclusion and future trends ............................................................................. 26
List of acronyms ......................................................................................................... 27
List of symbols ........................................................................................................... 28
References................................................................................................................... 28
v
vi Contents
Chapter 2: Integration of membranes into bioelectrochemical systems for

enhanced treatment performance ......................................................... 35
Akshay Jain, Shiqiang Zou and Zhen He
2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 35
2.2 Ion exchange membranes................................................................................... 38
2.3 Micro/ultrafiltration membranes ........................................................................ 41
2.4 Forward osmosis membranes............................................................................. 43
2.5 Gas permeable membranes ................................................................................ 47
List of acronyms ......................................................................................................... 48
References................................................................................................................... 48
Chapter 3: Forward osmosis for water treatment and desalination.......................... 53

Alberto Tiraferri
3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 53
3.2 Membrane transport theory and characterization .............................................. 54
3.2.1 Calculation of the osmotic pressures......................................................... 55
3.2.2 Mass transport processes and governing equations ................................... 55
3.2.3 Reverse solute flux selectivity and mechanisms of solute
passage ..................................................................................................... 57
3.2.4 Characterization of the membrane transport properties ............................. 58
3.3 Draw agents........................................................................................................ 59
3.3.1 Properties and regeneration of the draw solution ...................................... 59
3.3.2 Conventional and innovative draw solutions ............................................. 60
3.4 Membrane properties, fabrication, and characterization ................................... 62
3.4.1 Membrane materials and structure ............................................................ 62
3.4.2 Membrane modifications .......................................................................... 64
3.4.3 Modules and commercial membranes ....................................................... 64
3.5 Fouling in forward osmosis ............................................................................... 65
3.5.1 Fouling mechanisms ................................................................................. 65
3.5.2 Types of foulants in forward osmosis operation........................................ 67
3.6 Application of forward osmosis in water and wastewater
treatment ............................................................................................................. 67
3.6.1 Forward osmosis in desalination applications ........................................... 67
3.6.2 Forward osmosis in wastewater treatment................................................. 70
3.6.3 Applications in which the draw solution is not regenerated ...................... 74
List of acronyms ......................................................................................................... 77
Contents vii
List of symbols ........................................................................................................... 77

Greek symbols ..................................................................................................... 77
Subscripts ............................................................................................................. 78
References................................................................................................................... 78
Chapter 4: Photocatalytic membrane reactors for wastewater treatment ................. 83

Raffaele Molinari, Pietro Argurio, Kacper Szymański, Dominika Darowna
and Sylwia Mozia
4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 83
4.2 Fundaments of heterogeneous photocatalysis.................................................... 85
4.3 Types of photocatalytic membrane reactors and variables influencing
their performance ............................................................................................... 87
4.3.1 Photocatalytic membrane reactor classification......................................... 87
4.3.2 Variables influencing photocatalytic membrane reactors performance ...... 88
4.4 Application of various types of photocatalytic membrane reactors:
case studies ......................................................................................................... 90
4.4.1 Reclaimed wastewater (including primary and secondary effluents) ......... 90
4.4.2 Water disinfection (virus and bacteria inactivation) .................................. 93
4.4.3 Pesticides .................................................................................................. 95
4.4.4 Removal of dyes and persistent organic chemicals from textile and
wood processing wastewater ..................................................................... 96
4.4.5 Pharmaceuticals ...................................................................................... 102
4.4.6 Heavy metal ions .................................................................................... 106
4.4.7 Oily wastewaters .................................................................................... 107
4.5 Conclusion and future trends ........................................................................... 109
List of acronyms ....................................................................................................... 110
List of symbols ......................................................................................................... 111
References................................................................................................................. 112
Chapter 5: Inorganic materials for upcoming water purification

membranes ........................................................................................117
Vittorio Boffa and Elena Marino
5.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 117
5.2 Materials and challenges.................................................................................. 117
5.3 High-selectivity and high-flux membranes ..................................................... 121
5.3.1 Ideal membranes..................................................................................... 122
5.3.2 Graphene oxide....................................................................................... 123
5.3.3 Surfactant template silica membranes ..................................................... 124
viii Contents
5.4 Nanofiltration membranes for harsh environments ......................................... 126

5.4.1 Oxide membranes ................................................................................... 127
5.4.2 Silicon carbide ........................................................................................ 127
5.5 Antifouling, antibacterial, and self-cleaning membranes................................ 128
5.5.1 Titanium dioxide .................................................................................... 130
5.5.2 Graphene oxide titanium dioxide composites ........................................ 131
5.5.3 Silver nanoparticles ................................................................................ 132
5.7 List of acronyms............................................................................................... 135
5.8 List of symbols................................................................................................. 135
References................................................................................................................. 136
Chapter 6: Electrodialysis for wastewater treatment—Part I: Fundamentals

and municipal effluents ......................................................................141
Luigi Gurreri, Andrea Cipollina, Alessandro Tamburini and
Giorgio Micale
6.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 141
6.2 Fundamentals on electrodialysis processes...................................................... 143
6.2.1 Working principle and constructing/operational features ........................ 143
6.2.2 Ion exchange membranes and mass transfer ........................................... 146
6.2.3 Performance parameters.......................................................................... 154
6.2.4 Other electrodialysis configurations ........................................................ 156
6.3 Municipal wastewater and related effluents and animal farming
effluents ............................................................................................................ 160
6.3.1 Municipal wastewater treatment plants effluent ...................................... 160
6.3.2 Sludge and supernatants.......................................................................... 164
6.3.3 Human urine ........................................................................................... 166
6.3.4 Effluents from animal farming................................................................ 167
6.4 Valorization of brine from desalination/wastewater treatment ....................... 168
6.4.1 Water and salt recovery .......................................................................... 169
6.4.2 Conversion of salt into acid and base ..................................................... 174
6.4.3 Energy recovery ..................................................................................... 176
List of acronyms ....................................................................................................... 177
List of symbols ......................................................................................................... 178
Latin letters ........................................................................................................ 178
Greek letters ....................................................................................................... 178
Subscripts and superscripts................................................................................. 178
References................................................................................................................. 179
Contents ix
Part II Advances in membrane technologies for industrial

applications ........................................................................................193
Chapter 7: Electrodialysis for wastewater treatment—Part II: Industrial

effluents ............................................................................................195
Luigi Gurreri, Andrea Cipollina, Alessandro Tamburini and Giorgio Micale
7.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 195
7.2 Heavy metal ions.............................................................................................. 195
7.2.1 Nickel ..................................................................................................... 196
7.2.2 Copper .................................................................................................... 198
7.2.3 Zinc ........................................................................................................ 200
7.2.4 Chromium .............................................................................................. 201
7.2.5 Cadmium ................................................................................................ 204
7.2.6 Lead ....................................................................................................... 204
7.2.7 Other applications for heavy metal ions.................................................. 205
7.3 Acids and bases ................................................................................................ 209
7.3.1 Metal-containing waste acids .................................................................. 209
7.3.2 Wet scrubbers spent solutions ................................................................. 211
7.3.3 Waste salt conversion ............................................................................. 214
7.3.4 Organic matter-containing effluents ........................................................ 214
7.3.5 Organic acids .......................................................................................... 216
7.4 Saline wastewater from the oil and gas industry, coal mining, and
power plants ..................................................................................................... 217
7.4.1 Oil and gas extraction produced water .................................................... 217
7.4.2 Refineries and petrochemical industries .................................................. 219
7.4.3 Coal mines.............................................................................................. 220
7.4.4 Power plants ........................................................................................... 221
7.5 Other applications for industrial wastewaters ................................................. 221
List of acronyms ....................................................................................................... 226
List of symbols ......................................................................................................... 227
References................................................................................................................. 227
Chapter 8: RO membranes for small-scale water purifiers .....................................243

Hamid Koohi and Mohammad Reza Rahimpour
8.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 243
8.2 Conventional membrane material .................................................................... 244
8.2.1 Cellulose acetate ..................................................................................... 244
8.2.2 Composite polyamide membranes .......................................................... 245
x Contents
8.3 Reverse osmosis membrane applications in water purification ...................... 247

8.3.1 Desalination ............................................................................................ 247
8.3.2 Inorganic contaminants ........................................................................... 247
8.3.3 Synthetic and volatile organic chemicals ................................................ 248
8.3.4 Disinfection byproducts precursors ......................................................... 248
8.3.5 Pathogens ............................................................................................... 249
8.3.6 Common application ............................................................................... 249
8.4 Pretreatment...................................................................................................... 250
8.5 Reverse osmosis coupled with renewable energies......................................... 250
8.5.1 Reverse osmosis and solar energy .......................................................... 250
8.5.2 Reverse osmosis and wind energy .......................................................... 252
8.5.3 Reverse osmosis and hybrid solar photovoltaic-wind power ................... 253
List of acronyms ....................................................................................................... 256
References................................................................................................................. 256
Chapter 9: Dairy wastewater treatment using composite membranes .....................261

Arianna Catenacci, Micol Bellucci, Tugui Yuan and Francesca Malpei
9.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 261
9.2 The dairy sector: overview and main environmental issues ........................... 262
9.3 Dairy wastewater treatment processes: current state and future
challenges ......................................................................................................... 263
9.4 Membrane technologies for dairy effluent treatment and resource
recovery ............................................................................................................ 269
9.4.1 Membrane technologies for whey component recovery .......................... 269
9.4.2 Single-stage and integrated membrane systems ...................................... 271
9.4.3 Combining aerobic membrane bioreactors with other
technologies ............................................................................................ 274
9.4.4 Anaerobic processes and anaerobic membrane bioreactors ..................... 276
9.5 Conclusions and future trends.......................................................................... 283
List of acronyms ....................................................................................................... 283
References................................................................................................................. 284
Chapter 10: Membrane technology for brewery wastewater treatment ..................289

Maryam Meshksar, Tayebe Roostaee and Mohammad Reza Rahimpour
10.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 289
10.2 Brewery industry wastewater......................................................................... 291
10.3 Wastewater pretreatment options................................................................... 291
Contents xi
10.4 Membrane filtration ....................................................................................... 293

10.4.1 Membrane geometries ......................................................................... 294
10.4.2 Membranes construction materials ...................................................... 295
10.4.3 Pressure-driven membranes for brewery wastewater treatment ........... 296
10.4.4 Membrane biological reactor for brewery wastewater treatment ......... 298
10.4.5 Microbial fuel cells for brewery wastewater........................................ 299
10.5 Conclusion and future trends ......................................................................... 300
List of acronyms ....................................................................................................... 301
References................................................................................................................. 301
Index ............................................................................................................ 305

List of contributors
Pietro Argurio Department of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, University of Calabria,

Rende, Italy
Micol Bellucci Politecnico di Milano, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Piazza
Leonardo da Vinci, Milan, Italy
Vittorio Boffa Center for Membrane Technology, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience,
Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Arianna Catenacci Politecnico di Milano, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, Milan, Italy
Andrea Cipollina Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
Antonio Comite Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genoa, Genoa,
Italy
Camilla Costa Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genoa, Genoa,
Italy
Dominika Darowna Department of Inorganic Chemical Technology and Environment
Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, West Pomeranian University of
Technology in Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland
Luigi Gurreri Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
Zhen He Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University, Blacksburg, VA, United States
Akshay Jain Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University, Blacksburg, VA, United States
Hamid Koohi Department of Chemical Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Francesca Malpei Politecnico di Milano, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, Milan, Italy
Elena Marino Center for Membrane Technology, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience,
Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Maryam Meshksar Department of Chemical Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Giorgio Micale Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
Raffaele Molinari Department of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, University of
Calabria, Rende, Italy
Sylwia Mozia Department of Inorganic Chemical Technology and Environment Engineering,
Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology in
Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland
xiii
xiv List of contributors
Marcello Pagliero Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genoa,

Genoa, Italy
Mohammad Reza Rahimpour Department of Chemical Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz,
Iran
Tayebe Roostaee Department of Chemical Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Kacper Szymański Department of Inorganic Chemical Technology and Environment Engineering,
Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology in
Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland
Alessandro Tamburini Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
Alberto Tiraferri Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
Tugui Yuan Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, School of Environment and Energy,
Shenzhen Engineering Laboratory for Eco-efficient Recycled Materials, Shenzhen, P.R. China
Shiqiang Zou Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University, Blacksburg, VA, United States
Preface
Water is an essential resource for humans and for all the living organisms on the Earth.
However, despite its abundance the availability of clean water is now limited. Therefore
correct management of this important resource and reducing to zero the discharge of any
polluted wastewater are now obviously needed. Wastewater reclamation, reuse, or recycle
calls for efficient, versatile, compact, and cost-effective technologies. Pressure-driven
membrane processes have proved to be efficient and reliable in many applications in the
process and wastewater fields. On the other hand in many other wastewater applications
challenges need to be addressed even with more traditional membrane technologies by
improving both the membranes and the processes. Emerging membrane technologies
[e.g., membrane distillation (MD), forward osmosis (FO), electrodialysis] alone or
integrated with other chemical or separation technologies will play a key role in this.
This book aims to present recent advances and current applications of membrane-based
processes in the wastewater field. In particular, it covers some of the emerging membrane
materials and technologies (e.g., MD, FO, bioelectrochemical membrane based systems,
novel ceramic membranes, electrodialysis, photocatalytic membrane processes) along with
the application of more well-established membrane processes [microfiltration (MF),
ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO)] to specific types of water and wastewater
(drinking water and dairy and brewery wastewater).
Offering the opportunity for researchers and engineers in both academic and industrial areas
to learn about membrane technologies in an application context will allow current and
future challenges to be addressed and new technologies to be developed. For emerging
technologies some basic definitions and descriptions of fundamental principles are given to
explain their application to either municipal or industrial wastewater.
The book is divided into two main parts:
• Part 1. Advances in novel membrane technologies for water and wastewater
• Part 2. Advances in membrane technologies for industrial applications
Chapter 1 (Comite, Pagliero, and Costa) considers wastewater treatment using MD. While
this technology has been around since the 1960s only in recent years has it became widely
studied, mainly for desalination. While its application in wastewater treatment is emerging
xv
xvi Preface
and it has great potential for the realization of zero liquid discharge systems, progress is
needed and challenges must be addressed. This chapter introduces the basic MD
configurations and then, by reviewing some literature examples, discusses its applications
for treating several kinds of wastewater. Integration of MD with other treatments is also
discussed and finally some considerations about economics are reviewed.
Chapter 2 (Jain, Zou, and He) illustrates various aspects on the integration of membranes
into bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) for enhanced treatment performance. BESs are
emerging treatment concepts that use microbial interactions with solid electron acceptors/
donors to achieve simultaneous wastewater treatment and recovery of valuable resources.
The BESs discussed include microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for bioelectricity generation,
microbial electrolysis cells for hydrogen production, microbial desalination cells for
separating salts from water, and microbial electrosynthesis cells for synthesizing organics
from carbon dioxide. To improve treatment efficiency in terms of both contaminant
removal and resource recovery, BESs use various types of membranes such as ion exchange
membranes, micro/UF membranes, FO membranes, and gas permeable membranes. This
chapter aims to provide a concise overview of membrane integration into BESs for
enhanced wastewater treatment and to discuss the advantages and challenges of developing
membrane-based BESs technologies.
Chapter 3 (Tiraferri) discusses the application and the potential of FO for water and
wastewater treatment. In particular, the chapter elucidates the mechanisms of mass transport,
as well as the current state-of-the-art draw agents and the research needed to obtain an ideal
draw solution. In the last part, the characteristics and limitation of current FO membranes is
highlighted, together with the recent advancements in this field and next the extent and
mechanisms of FO membrane fouling is also briefly presented. The majority of this chapter
is devoted to discuss the applications of FO in water and wastewater treatment and in
desalination and, in the final section, the current status of the technology, its limitations and
potential are summarized.
Chapter 4 (Molinari, Argurio, Szymański, Darowna, and Mozia) focuses on a critical review
of recent reports on applications of photocatalytic membrane reactors (PMRs) in water and
wastewater treatment. In the first part, a brief summary of the most common water
pollutants is given followed by a condensed introduction to photocatalysis. The next section
describes classification of PMRs with the advantages and disadvantages of slurry systems
versus configurations using photocatalytic membranes, followed by a description of the
variables influencing their performance. The main part of the chapter presents examples of
applications of various types of PMRs. The discussed case studies include wastewater
reclamation (with reference to treatment of primary and secondary effluents as well); water
disinfection (viruses and bacteria inactivation); and removal of various pollutants such as
pesticides, dyes, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, as well as treatment of oily wastewater.
Preface xvii
While PMRs could be a promising solution for final polishing of water/wastewater with a
high potential in applications aimed at water recovery, further research is needed, especially
aimed at treatment of real water/wastewater in pilot-scale PMRs of submerged type with
utilization of visible light active photocatalysts and solar light.
Chapter 5 (Boffa and Marino) illustrates how recent advances in science and technology of
nanomaterials have enabled the design of novel inorganic membranes with enhanced water
purification performance. These new generations of membranes can achieve ultrafast water
transport, are highly selective toward water molecules, possess high tolerance to harsh
environments, and can be integrated with additional functionalities, such as antifouling,
antibacterial, and detoxification properties, thus improving the economy of traditional
filtration processes and expanding their field of applications.
Electrodialysis for wastewater treatment is split into two chapters. Chapter 6 (Gurreri,
Cipollina, Tamburini, and Micale) focuses on municipal effluents. Various aspects are
discussed, such as the strengths of electrodialysis. Different configurations are also
proposed for several applications. Effluents from municipal wastewater treatment plants
(including sludge and supernatants), desalination plants, and animal farms can be treated for
recovering water, nutrients, salts, and acids/bases. Although many applications are
technoeconomically feasible and competitive with other zero liquid discharge systems, few
real plants have been installed. However, the research is currently very active, thus paving
the way for widespread use at large scale in the near future.
Part II of the book focuses on advances in membrane technologies for industrial
applications. Here, in Chapter 7 (Gurreri, Cipollina, Tamburini, and Micale), industrial
effluents are considered, where electrodialysis and related processes have huge potential.
They can recover water and other valuable products, including heavy metal ions, acids and
bases, nutrients and organics. In recent years, novel and improved systems have been
continuously developed, showing that the (near) zero liquid discharge approach can be
affordable in several industrial applications. A larger market share may be expected in the
near future.
In Chapter 8 (Koohi and Rahimpour), the use of RO membrane on a small scale is
reviewed. The efficiency of RO depends on the membrane material used. Conventional
membrane materials such as cellulose acetate and polyamide composition have been
studied. For better understanding of their properties, characteristics such as type, salt
rejection, pH range, and so on are presented and discussed. RO membrane application in
water purification by focusing on desalting, disinfection byproduct (DBP) precursors,
inorganic contaminants, synthetic and volatile organic chemicals, pathogens, and so on are
also discussed. As can be seen, RO coupled with renewable energies (such as solar energy,
wind energy, and hybrid solar photovoltaic-wind power) may be a viable option for
wastewater treatment.
xviii Preface
Chapter 9 (Catenacci, Bellucci, Yuan, and Malpei) discusses dairy wastewater treatment
using composite membranes. The increased demand for milk and milk products has led to
the rapid development of the dairy sector and its related process residues and wastes. The
main effluent streams, which are generated in the production chain, include byproducts such
as whey, buttermilk and their derivatives, and wastewaters deriving from processing,
cleaning, and sanitary purposes. If not properly managed, discharge from this type of
industry can cause serious environmental problems. In the last 40 years, membrane
technologies have been widely implemented throughout the dairy processing chain, but only
recently have applications of membrane-based processes for the valorization and
purification of wastewater and cheese whey gained attention. Coupling membrane-based
technologies with biological treatments, especially anaerobic digestion, is a cost-efficient
and environmentally sustainable approach to enabling water reuse and material and energy
recovery. This chapter provides a critical review, focusing on applications of membrane-
based technologies for innovative management of the wastes produced by the diary sector.
In Chapter 10 (Meshksar, Roostaee, and Rahimpour) the application of membrane
technology for brewery wastewater treatment is described. The brewery industries often
produce high quantities of wastewater effluents and high amounts of solid wastes, which
should be treated in the safest way at lowest cost possible to meet the discharge quality.
There are different methods for water treatment like membrane filtration, nonthermal
quenched plasma, electro-chemical methods, etc. In this chapter brewery wastewater
treatment by membrane filtration is discussed in detail. The widely used membranes are
MF, UF, nanofiltration (NF), and RO, which are categorized based on pore size. RO is the
best method for brewery effluent treatment due to its small space requirement,
environmentally friendly applications, ease of operation, and the fact that it does use
chemicals. Aerobic/anaerobic membrane bioreactors as a combination of the
aerobic/anaerobic process and membrane filtration are also applied for treating high
suspended solid concentration wastewaters. MFCs can also provide a new approach for
brewery wastewater treatment while producing electricity.
The editors wish to thank all the authors of the chapters for their contributions and also for
their patience in reviewing, sometimes various times, their chapters based on the comments
and suggestions of the editors. Special thanks also to the staff of Elsevier who helped make
this book possible.
CHAPTER 1
Wastewater treatment by membrane

distillation
Antonio Comite, Marcello Pagliero and Camilla Costa
Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
1.1 Introduction
Water is considered a resource at risk due to pollution and the world’s increasing
population. Efficient policies for effective water distribution and consumption are needed to
protect this resource and to minimize wastewater generation.Therefore, to achieve water
sustainability it becomes mandatory to consider wastewater as a valuable resource for
generating again safe water. Technological processes such as membrane technology are key
to advanced water and wastewater treatments. To effectively implement policies for water
and wastewater management, membrane processes such as microfiltration (MF) and reverse
osmosis (RO) have been widely applied on a commercial scale for water depuration,
desalination, and wastewater treatments. Nevertheless, other emerging membrane processes
are attracting greater attention and, among these, membrane distillation (MD), which,
although still in the initial commercialization phase in the desalination field, is among the
membrane processes expected to enable zero-liquid-discharge (ZLD) or to maximize water
recycling while minimizing wastewater volumes [1].
The first MD patent was filed by Bodell in 1963 [2] back when suitable inherently
hydrophobic membranes were not yet available. When hydrophobic polymer membranes
appeared on the market the first studies on MD were devoted to desalination and then to
food processing. While researchers have studied the application of MD to wastewater over
the last two decades there are challenges that must be addressed before this technology can
be applied at a commercial level for wastewater treatment. Fig. 1.1 shows the general trend
of MD in scientific publications from the mid-1980s up to 2018. As can be seen, the
number of papers addressing wastewater treatment is still limited.
In recent years many books and reviews have been published on the subject of MD [39].
At the beginning of this chapter, we give an overview of MD and later we discuss the main
Current Trends and Future Developments on (Bio-) Membranes.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-816823-3.00001-0 3
© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
4 Chapter 1
200
"membrane distillation"
180
"membrane distillation wastewater"
160
Number of publications
"membrane distillation desalination"
140
120
100
80 a
60
40
b
20
c
0
1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Year
Figure 1.1
Publication trend in the last two decades using the keywords (a) “membrane distillation,” (b)
“membrane distillation desalination,” and (c) “membrane distillation wastewater” in the title
search field of ScienceDirect (Elsevier).
parameters for its application in the wastewater sector. In particular selected examples
found in the literature will be reviewed.
1.2 Overview of membrane distillation

The distillation process exploits the differences in volatility to separate the components of a
liquid solution. The vapor pressure of a pure liquid can be empirically estimated by using
the Antoine equation:
B
log10 ð p Þ 5 A 2 (1.1)
T 1C
where p is the vapor pressure (Pa or bar); T is the temperature (K or C); and A, B, and C
are the constants for each substance. For pure water expressing the vapor pressure in Pa and
the temperature in K, the Antoine’s constants are A 5 23.1964, B 5 3816.44, and C 5 46.13
[10,11]. By increasing the temperature the vapor pressure increases. When nonvolatile
solutes are diluted in a water solution the Raoult equation can account for the change in the
vapor pressure pf:
pf 5 xw pow (1.2)
Wastewater treatment by membrane distillation 5
where xw is the molar fraction of water. For more concentrated solutions in which the
solutewater interactions are more important xw needs to be replaced by the water activity:
pf 5 aw pow 5 γ w xw pow (1.3)
where aw is the water activity and γ w is the activity coefficient for water. Therefore when a
solute is present usually the vapor pressure is lower than for pure water. The evaporation
takes place at the interface between the liquid and the vapor phases and thus the molar flow
rate of evaporation depends on the evaporation surface area and on the water flux. When the
evaporation interface is mediated by a porous membrane that is not filled by the liquid
phase, but only by the vapor phase, the distillation process is deferred to as MD. Considering
an aqueous feed, a hydrophobic porous membrane can create a controlled and known
(from geometrical considerations) evaporation surface. Then only the vapors of the volatile
components, solvent, and/or other volatile species in the feed will diffuse through the porous
structure of the membrane to the other side where they can be drained out by vacuum or a
sweep gas, or condensed in a liquid phase that may have direct contact with the membrane
surface. Which is an isothermal process that exploits a concentrated salt solution, known as
draw solution, on the condensing side of the membrane to create a vapor pressure gradient
which drives the water mass transfer [4].
MD is essentially a thermally driven separation process in which a hydrophobic porous
membrane in contact with a hotter liquid solution (usually an aqueous one) works as an
artificial evaporation interface. By simultaneously exploiting a gradient of temperature
between the feed phase and the collecting phase on the permeate side and a sufficiently
high contact area, high evaporation flow rates are possible even at operating temperatures
lower than boiling point of the feed.
Since in MD the flow rate can be easily raised by increasing the membrane contact area,
the feed does not need to be heated up to the solvent boiling point and low-grade thermal
sources, such as solar or geothermal, can be conveniently exploited. Furthermore, since the
driving force of the process is a difference of partial pressure of water at the two sides of
the membrane, the operating pressures of MD are well below the ones used for pressure-
driven membrane processes such as RO, resulting in less severe fouling phenomena and
lower operating costs for the same concentration factor. Moreover, unlike RO, the osmotic
pressure is not a limiting factor for achieving both very high solute concentrations and
water recovery. Since only water vapor can pass through the membrane, theoretically MD
can provide complete rejection of all nonvolatile compounds.
All these features make MD a feasible competitive process for water treatment. However,
MD does have some limiting factors. The thermal conductivity of the membrane as well as
the evaporation and condensation processes lead to high heat losses. Moreover, the
6 Chapter 1
permeate flux is lower compared to RO performance and heavily affected by feed fluid
dynamics and by temperature and concentration polarization effects. Although in most MD
applications the feed temperature is lower compared to traditional distillation processes, in
some processes a temperature of the feed close to its boiling point at ambient pressure or
even higher for pressurized feeds may be required. Indeed, it is well known that a higher
feed temperature results in a higher vapor flux through the membrane and a higher thermal
efficiency of the process [12,13].
1.3 Membrane distillation configurations

Four main MD configurations have been developed:
• vacuum membrane distillation (VMD);
• sweeping gas membrane distillation (SGMD);
• direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD); and
• air-gap membrane distillation (AGMD).
In Fig. 1.2 the different MD configurations are schematized along with the general
temperature and concentration profiles of the nonvolatile and volatile components in the
feed solution. The subscripts f and p stand for feed and permeate, respectively.
In the VMD configuration the vacuum is applied on the permeate side of the membrane and
the vapor is condensed an external cooler. The heat loss is lower than for the other MD
configurations but the pore wetting on the feed side and fouling phenomena can be more
relevant due to the presence of a pressure gradient [1416]. In VMD the conductive heat
loss is negligible due to the lower thermal conductivity of vapors at low pressure, while the
permeate flux is high and the recovery of the most volatile compound occurs. Due to the
pressure gradient between the two membrane sides, the risk of pore wetting is higher in
VMD in addition to the possibility of fouling the membrane. In VMD an external vacuum
pump and an external condenser need to be included in the process layout.
In the SGMD configuration a carrier gas flows in the distillate channel of the membrane
module and carries the vapor to an external cooler. The permeate flux is lower than in
VMD and in addition large condensers are necessary due to the low vapor concentration in
the sweep gas.
SGMD is less affected by thermal polarization than the DCMD as discussed in the
following, and it is can remove volatile compounds and dissolved gases as does VMD.
In the DCMD configuration the hot feed and the cold distillate are directly in contact
through the membrane. Since it is the simplest configuration and provides a stable flux of
distillate, DCMD is already at a demonstration scale for the desalination process. However,
DCMD is also characterized by low energy efficiency and high pore wetting because of the
Tf Tf
Cf , solvent
Cf , solvent
Tp
Tp
Cp, solvent
Cf, solute Cp, solvent Cf , solute

δ
VMD Feed SGMD Feed Sweep gas
Tf Tf
Cold surface
Tp Cf , solvent
Cp, solvent Tp
C f , solvent Cf , solute Cp, solvent
C f , solute
Air gap Condensed

DCMD Feed Cold permeate AGMD Feed
water
Figure 1.2
Simplified membrane distillation configurations. AGMD, Air-gap membrane distillation; DCMD,
direct contact membrane distillation; SGMD, sweep gas membrane distillation; VMD, vacuum
membrane distillation.
direct contact between hot and cold liquids. While DCMD is the simplest configuration it
has the highest heat loss by conduction and thus cannot recover other volatile compounds or
dissolved gases.
In order to limit the disadvantages of DCMD, in the AGMD configuration a space filled
with stagnant air separates the permeate side of the membrane from a cooled plate where
the distillate condenses. This reduces the wetting at the permeate side, and the thermal loss
for conduction through the membrane and the flux is also lowered. AGMD has less
conductive heat loss, low tendency for fouling, and high flux but there is additional mass
transfer resistance and module design is more difficult. Variants of AGMD are the liquid
gap membrane distillation (LGMD) or permeate gap membrane distillation (PGMD)
configurations where a liquid (usually the permeate) fills the gap between the membrane
and the condenser surface [17].
8 Chapter 1
As it can be seen from the temperature and concentration profiles (Fig. 1.2) temperature
and concentration polarization phenomena can occur depending on the distillation rate and
on the fluid dynamic regimes on the feed and permeate sides.
Details on the polarization phenomena and mass transfer in the porous membrane applied to
MD can be found in the literature [18,19].
1.4 Membranes
Like in other membrane processes the membrane itself is one of the most important factors
contributing to the MD performance. The hydrophobic character is essential since it
prevents pore wetting but other important requirements include high porosity to extend the
effective liquidgas interface as much as possible and narrow pore size distribution [20]. In
fact, the largest pores are flooded more easily and can allow the feed solution to pass
through the membrane compromising the separation properties of the whole process
[15,21].
Since during the distillation operation the membrane porosity should not be flooded by the
liquid phase, one of the most important parameters is the liquid entry pressure (LEP), which
is defined as the lowest feed pressure that allows the passage of liquid through the
membrane. From this value, the largest pore size can be estimated using the
CantorLaplace equation:
2Bγl cosθ
LEP 5 (1.4)
rmax
where B is a geometric factor accounting for the pore shape (0 , B , 1 for noncylindrical
shapes; B 5 1 for cylindrical pores); γl is the liquid surface tension; rmax is the largest pore
size; θ is the contact angle between the membrane and the liquid feed.
The LEP usually decreases by increasing the temperature due to decreasing contact angle
and surface tension. LEP is of particular significance in VMD, which works under a
pressure gradient. Therefore for VMD the requirement of a very narrow pore size is more
important than with the other configurations.
In MD polymeric membranes originally designed for MF are still widely used, and
therefore optimization of the structure/material and proper membrane functionalization can
strongly improve the performance of the MD process [15,20]. It has been suggested that the
maximum pore size to prevent wetting is between 0.1 and 0.6 µm [14].
Jacob et al. [22] studied the effect of process variables on the membrane wettability. As
seen LEP depends on the liquid surface tension and the contact angle. In wastewater
treatment the wettability and consequently the flooding of the porosity of the membrane can
be influenced by the presence of organic molecules, and in particular of oils and

surfactants, which act on the surface tension and on the contact angle. An example of how
the presence of a surfactant can affect membrane wettability was reported by Eykens et al.
[23]. It should be noted that partial membrane flooding may occur even at pressures lower
than LEP determined with either pure or saline water. Since pore wetting can take place
slowly, assessment of long-term stability at specific operating conditions is needed before
application at industrial scale.
The main polymers used because of their lower surface energy are polytetrafluoroethylene
(PTFE), polyvinilidene fluoride (PVDF), and polypropylene (PP). Commercial membranes
made of those polymers are readily available. In Fig. 1.3 the surface morphologies of some
commercial PP and PTFE membranes are given. The manufacturing of these membranes
involves different techniques depending on the polymer such as either nonsolvent or
thermally induced phase separation (NIPS or TIPS), melt extrusion stretching and sintering
[16]. PTFE is characterized by excellent thermal and chemical stability as well as low
surface energy that allow the preparation of membranes with good hydrophobicity and
wetting resistance. The melting point of PTFE is high (327 C) and since it does not
dissolve in any solvent at room temperature the preparation of PTFE membranes is
complicated. PTFE membranes are prepared by extrusion, rolling, stretching, sintering, or in
some instances by melt processing techniques [15,16,20].
PP membranes can be prepared with a stretching method or by the TIPS process. In the
latter case a PP is mixed with a suitable diluent and heated up to its melting point, resulting
in a homogeneous solution being formed and cast. The phase separation is then obtained by
cooling [24].
PVDF is a soluble polymer and therefore the TIPS and NIPS processes are used for
manufacturing. In contrast to the thermal process, in NIPS the cast solution is submerged in
an liquid that extracts the solvent from the solution. Thus the polymer precipitates forming
Accurel PP 2E HF—0.4 µm Celgard 3500—PP Membrane Solutions PTFE—0,22 Membrane Solutions PTFE—1,0
1 µm 1 µm 1 µm 1 µm
Figure 1.3
Examples of surface morphology of the four commercial membranes.
10 Chapter 1
a porous matrix; the morphology of the membrane is controlled by the composition of the
solution and by the interaction between the nonsolvent and the solvent.
Membranes based on polyvinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP) [25,26] or
poly(tetrafluoroethylene-co-hexafluoropropylene-co-vinylidene fluoride) prepared by
electrospinning are also being developed [27]. An overview of the techniques and
approaches used for the preparation of membranes specifically for MD can be found in
Eykenes et al. [20] and Wang and Chung [16].
The development of novel MD membranes aimed at creating membrane surfaces less
prone to pore wetting by introducing omniphobic character is in progress [28,29]. As
reported in Lu et al. [29] one of the approaches to obtain the omniphobic character is
improving the roughness of the membrane surface by, for example, adding hydrophobic
nanoparticles. Omniphobic membranes are of high interest for MD wastewater
applications with low surface tension. Another approach to mitigating wetting and
reducing the fouling impact consists of creating layered hydrophobichydrophilic
membranes. The hydrophilic surface hosts an hydration layer which prevents the oil
wetting [30,31].
With polymeric membranes the maximum temperature of the feed stream is limited by the
physical properties of the material itself. On the other hand, ceramic membranes are made
of metal oxides (e.g., alumina, silica) and have better mechanical properties and higher
thermal resistance, but because of the hydroxyl groups on their surface, they have
hydrophilic behavior [3236].
Various techniques to change the hydrophilicity of membranes, such as plasma
modification, microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, and reaction with
low surface energy compounds, have been investigated [34]. The development of
hydrophobic ceramic membranes can extend the possible applications of MD processes to
cases where the operating conditions (e.g., temperature, pressure) prevent the use of
polymeric membranes [37].
1.5 Membrane modules

One of the reasons for the popularity of membrane technology is its scalability. Membranes
assembled in adequate modules should exploit their productivity by optimizing the
operational variables. Indeed, module design has the main objective of realizing high
specific membrane area per volume ratios, allowing high flow rates in a small footprint.
Moreover, the fluid dynamics are highly affected by the module geometry and as mentioned
above play a key role in membrane performance, controlling temperature and concentration
polarization phenomena along the membrane.
In conclusion optimal design approaches provide the highest heat and mass transfer in a
MD module and should:
• minimize the concentration polarization effects;
• minimize the temperature polarization effects; and
• ensure low fouling tendency.
To minimize the polarization phenomena the module should allow high feed velocity in
order to be as much as possible in the turbulent regime near the membrane surface. Most of
the studies carried out on MD pilot units used modules developed for other membrane
processes and therefore not optimized for distillation purposes.
Many membrane modules have been proposed to satisfy different process requirements
[38]. In general three main module schemas have been suggested (Fig. 1.4):
• shell-and-tube modules for hollow fiber or tubular membranes;
• spiral wound for flat-sheet membranes; and
• plate and frame modules for flat-sheet membranes.
The shell-and-tube module has been widely studied and used in all the MD configurations
(DCMD, AGMD, SGMD, and VMD) because high surface area/module volume ratios can
be reached and it is also easy to produce. The tubular or the hollow fiber membranes can
operate in two different configurations: if the feed flows outside the fibers, it is referred to
as outside-in configuration, while when the feed is sent into the membrane lumen it is
called inside-out configuration. The wide availability of membranes with different pore size
and channel diameter makes it possible to treat many different feeds, even with suspended
solids (if the outside-in configuration is used). However, low flux and weakness of the
fibers are the main disadvantages of this scheme [39].
Inside-out Outside-in
Membranes
Feed Concentrate
Capillary membranes Feed

Permeate
Feed Concentrate
Product Spacer
Resin Feed Spacer
potting Permeate Permeate Concentrate

(A) (B) (C)
Figure 1.4
Membrane modules: (A) shell-and-tube, (B) plate and frame, and (C) spiral wound. Source:
Adapted from D. Winter, J. Koschikowski, F. Gross, D. Maucher, D. Düver, M. Jositz, et al., Comparative
analysis of full-scale membrane distillation contactors—methods and modules, J. Membr. Sci. 524 (2017)
758771. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MEMSCI.2016.11.080.
12 Chapter 1
Table 1.1: Some commercial membrane desalination technologies and their characteristics.
Company Technology Module geometry Productivity Reference
3 21
Memsys V-MEMD Plate and frames 31000 m day [41]
Aquastill DCMD Spiral wound 480024,000 1 m3 day21 [42]
AGMD
LGMD
Thermosift Joule Tompson effect Hollow fiber 150 m3 day21 [43]
Petrosep VMD Hollow fiber 501000 m3 day21 [44]
KMX VMD Hollow fiber 101000 m3 day21 [45,46]
Econity VMD Hollow fiber 400 m3 day21 [46]
Solar Spring PGMD Spiral wound 0.6 m3 day21 [46]
Scarab AB AGMD Plate and frames 2 m3 day21 [46]
Instead, flat-sheet membranes can be assembled in plate and frame or spiral wound
modules. Since this kind of membrane is thinner than hollow fiber, it can provide higher
permeability but also requires a porous support that provides mechanical strength. The two
module types have different strengths and weaknesses: the plate and frame modules allow
higher tangential flow rates, diminishing concentration polarization and fouling effects and
the membranes can be easily replaced. However, the plate and frame modules provide low
packing density (100400 m2 m23) and poor energy efficiency [20,40].
The choice of the appropriate module configuration as well as the MD process mode depends
on the feed characteristics and the recovery needed. Thus various companies provide plants
with different configurations and scales [6]. Some examples are listed in Table 1.1.
The development of MD modules requires practical and engineering skills to properly
configure an effective exploitation of the membrane area during the distillation process.
Modeling is needed to design and foresee module behavior during the distillation process
since both mass and heat transfer dynamics in the module itself need to be understood and
controlled. Theoretical descriptions of the different MD configurations have been given
elsewhere and will not be discussed [47]. Examples of theoretical analysis and simulation
of MD modules can be found in Refs. [48,49].
1.6 Wastewater treatment by membrane distillation

Traditionally MD has been used for desalination. However, as the literature shows MD in
wastewater treatment is becoming more common [6,16,5052]. In MD total retention of
nonvolatile solutes and the possibility of achieving high concentration factors are expected.
Moreover, the MD process can be configured to use waste heat or heat from natural
sources. These features characterize MD compared to other conventional membrane-based
separation processes. MD is expected to allow the development of more flexible processes
able to deliver high product quality and a high degree of separation, with overall low
energy consumption when integrated with a suitable energy source. The possibility of using
solar collectors as well as photovoltaic cells makes the application of MD feasible even in
remote areas. All these features make MD very attractive for wastewater treatments inspired
to a ZLD approach.
The MD performance indicators are:
• permeate flux,
• separation selectivity,
• stability over the time, and
• energy efficiency.
The permeate flux is related to both the thermal and vapor pressure gradients, which in turn
depend on the fluid dynamics of the concentrate and permeate side streams and on the
thermal conductivities of the membrane and of the vapor phase. Moreover, the flux depends
on the MD configuration (i.e., DCMD, AGMD, VMD, SGMD), on the membrane and
module characteristics, and on the operating parameters specific for each configuration.
The efficiency of the separation is evaluated as in pressure-driven membrane processes by
the rejection factor:

Cf 2 Cp
αð%Þ 5 100 (1.5)
Cf
where α is the rejection factor, Cf and Cp are the overall concentration of the dissolved/
suspended compounds in the feed and in the permeate, respectively.
The various MD modules exhibit different tendencies for fouling as found in other membrane-
based separation processes. For example, tubular configurations are less prone to fouling while
side spiral wound and capillary configurations can exhibit higher fouling tendencies. In
addition to the process layout adopted, the module choice must also consider a feed
pretreatment aimed at lowering the fouling potential of wastewater. While the Silt Density
Index or the Modified Fouling Index (MFI) tests [53] are commonly used to assess the fouling
potential for nanofiltration and RO processes, a combined fouling index, which takes into
account also the effects of membrane hydrophobicity, should be developed for MD.
1.6.1 Parameters affecting membrane distillation performance
In desalination MD performance is generally affected by the process, membrane, and

membrane module-related parameters used [7]. When MD is used for the treatment of
wastewater, its characteristics have a strong impact on performance.
Fig. 1.5 summarizes the main parameters influencing the use of MD for wastewater
treatment. The characteristics of the wastewater are of paramount importance since its
14 Chapter 1
Membrane Module
• Type •Thickness •External or submerged
• Material •Pore size •Configuration
•LEP •Porosity Hollow fiber
• Structure •Tortuosity Tubular
•Thermal Plate and frame
conductivity Spiral wound
Wastewater
• Inorganic dissolved solids MD configuration
• Organic dissolved compounds Performance •DCMD
Volatile compounds •Rejection •VMD
• Oil, fat, wax •Flux •AGMD
• Organic colloids •Stability •SGMD
• Microorganisms •Recovery
•Low Kps solutes •Wetting pressure
•Pollutants concentration •Membrane
flooding Process
•Fouling •Feed temperature
•Scaling •Permeate temperature
•Energy efficiency •Fluid dynamics
•Waste or renewable energy
Figure 1.5
Parameters affecting MD application to wastewater.
components can strongly affect the rejection and flux as well as their stability over time.
The composition of wastewater depends on its source, which affects the feasibility of MD,
and configuration and performance need to be investigated in each case. When studying the
application of MD to wastewater the following should be considered:
• wetting and flooding of membrane porosity;
• scaling and fouling; and
• low rejection of other volatile compounds.
In the following sections examples of MD application to specific types of wastewater
treatment are given. Finally some examples of integration of MD with other treatment
processes will be reviewed concluding with remarks on fouling phenomena.
1.6.2 Desalination and brine treatment
While a review of MD for desalination is not the aim of this chapter and there is plenty of
literature available on the topic, we would like to note that one application of MD in
desalination is the further concentration of concentrated brines from RO. RO, with a
market share over 60%, is the most commonly applied treatment process for desalination
in the Middle East and Africa, comprising more than the share of thermal processes since
it requires less electrical and thermal energy. One of the main problems associated with
desalination is related to the production of concentrated brine that has to be disposed of in
an environmentally friendly manner. Concentrated RO brines are characterized not only
by high sodium chloride concentrations but also by the presence of other elements
under stringent regulatory restrictions. Since MD can use solar energy it can be applied
in poorer regions and can achieve high water recovery and reduce the volume of brine
that needs to be disposed [54]. Basically, if a MD crystallization process is applied,
salts or other specific elements (e.g., lithium seems to be of great interest) can be
recovered for either the commercialization or other more environmental-friendly
disposal approaches.
1.6.3 Industrial wastewater treatment
Industrial wastewater is usually treated to meet the discharge limits imposed by

environmental authorities. When toxic or hazardous species are present in wastewater,
additional separation or conversion processes are necessary. In such cases MD can retain
almost all the nonvolatile toxic solutes and at the same time concentrate them in
relatively smaller volumes compared to RO, for example. In the following sections the
application of MD to some wastewater will be reviewed on the basis of some literature
examples.
1.6.3.1 Radioactive wastewater

The treatment of radioactive wastewater has received increasing attention especially after
the Fukushima disaster (Japan, March 2011) where, even after 8 years, the contaminated
water is still a huge problem. Radioactive contaminated water and wastewater sources are
nuclear power reactors, factories for the production of radioisotopes and nuclear weapons,
uranium enrichment plants, research and medical centers.
Radioactive wastes are classified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
into six classes depending on both their level of activity and half-life [55]. Usually
radioactive water and wastewater fall into the low level waste (LLW) or intermediate
level waste (ILW) classes. Since radioactive properties cannot be changed all the
proposed methods for the treatment of radioactive water and wastewater aim at
concentrating the radioactive components into a smaller volume for controlled disposal
or safe storage [56].
MD has been investigated for the treatment of this type of wastewater and several studies
can be found in the literature. Besides the rejection, which is calculated using the
concentration of the radioactive elements in the wastewater, the decontamination factor D
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impression on him then to modify his violent zeal (supposing them
to be right now) it is a sign either of a disinclination, or of an
incapacity, on his part, to give truth a fair hearing—a bad ground to
build his present dogmatical and infallible tone upon! It is certain,
that the common sense of the world condemns these violent changes
of opinion; and if they do not prove that a man prefers his
convenience to his virtue, they at least show that he prefers it to his
reputation; for he loses his character by them. An apostate is a name
that all men abhor, that no man ever willingly acknowledges; and the
tergiversation which it denotes is not likely to come into much
greater request, till it is no longer observed that a man seldom
changes his principles except for his interest! Those who go over
from the winning to the losing side, do not incur this appellation;
and however we may count them fools, they can’t be called knaves
into the bargain.
QUERIES AND ANSWERS; OR THE RULE OF
CONTRARY
The London Weekly Review.]

[November 17, 1827.
1. Why is the word comfort so continually in the mouths of the

English?—Because the English are the most uncomfortable of all
people: for being so liable to receive pain from outward objects, and
being made uneasy by everything that is not as they wish it, they are
obliged to remove, if possible, every source of annoyance, and have
all their comforts about them.
2. Why are the English so fond of clubs, corporate bodies, joint-
stock companies, and large associations of all kinds?—Because they
are the most unsociable set of people in the world: for being mostly
at variance with each other, they are glad to get any one else to join
and be on their side; having no spontaneous attraction, they are
forced to fasten themselves into the machine of society; and each
holds out in his individual shyness and reserve, till he is carried away
by the crowd, and borne with a violent, but welcome shock against
some other mass of aggregate prejudice or self-interest. The English
join together to get rid of their sharp points and sense of
uncomfortable peculiarity. Hence, their clubs, their mobs, their sects,
their parties, their spirit of co-operation, and previous understanding
in every thing. An English mob is a collection of violent and
headstrong humours, acting with double force from each man’s
natural self-will, and the sense of opposition to others; and the same
may be said of the nation at large. The French unite and separate
more easily; and therefore do not collect into such formidable
masses, and act with such unity and tenacity of purpose. It is the
same with their ideas, which easily join together, and easily part
company; but do not form large or striking masses: and hence, the
French are full of wit and fancy, but without imagination and
principle. The French are governed by fashion, the English by cabal.
3. Why are the English a credulous nation, and the eager dupes of
all sorts of quacks and impostors?—Because they are a dry, plodding,
matter-of-fact people, and having, in general, no idea of the
possibility of telling lies, think all they hear or read must be true, and
are left at the mercy of every empiric or knavish pretender, who will
take the trouble to impose on them. From their very gravity and
seriousness, they are the dupes of superficial professions and
appearances, which they think, (judging from themselves,) must
imply all they pretend. Their folly and love of the marvellous takes a
practical and mischievous turn; they despise the fictitious, and
require to be amused by something that they think solid and useful.
Hence, they swallow Dr. Brodum’s pills, Joanna Southcote’s
prophecies, the Literary Gazette, and Blackwood’s Magazine, taking
them all for gospel. They constantly have a succession of idols or
bugbears. There is always some one to be hunted down at the time
for their amusement, like a strange dog in a village; and some name,
some work that is cried up for half-a-dozen years, as containing all
wisdom, and then you hear no more of it. No people judge so much
as the English at second-hand, except in mere matters of pounds,
shillings, and pence; and even then they may be gulled by impudence
and quackery. Every thing is either in collusion or collision. Thimble
was a great man in the O. P. Row, and now regulates the debates in
Parliament. If a man has a monstrous good opinion of himself, and
nothing will drive him out of it, the English will come into his way of
thinking, sooner than be left in a minority, or not appear to be in the
secret! Lest they should seem stupid, they try to be knowing, as they
become forward in aiming to be witty, and vulgar in affecting to be
genteel.
ON KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORLD

[December 1, 1827.
‘Who shall go about to cozen fortune, or wear the badge of honour without the
stamp of merit?’
A knowledge of the world is generally supposed to be the fruit of

experience and observation, or of a various, practical acquaintance
with men and things. On the contrary, it appears to me to be a kind
of instinct, arising out of a peculiar construction and turn of mind.
Some persons display this knowledge at their first outset in life:
others, with all their opportunities and dear-bought lessons, never
acquire it to the end of their career. In fact, a knowledge of the world
only means a knowledge of our own interest; it is nothing but a
species of selfishness or ramification of the law of self-preservation.
There may be said to be two classes of people in the world, which
remain for ever distinct: those who consider things in the abstract, or
with a reference to the truth, and those who consider them only with
a reference to themselves, or to the main-chance. The first, whatever
may be their acquirements or discoveries, wander through life in a
sort of absence of mind, or comparative state of sleep-walking: the
last, though their attention is riveted to a single point of view, are
always on the alert, know perfectly well what they are about, and
calculate with the greatest nicety the effect which their words or
actions will have on others. They do not trouble themselves about the
arguments on any subject: they know the opinion entertained on it,
and that is enough for them to regulate themselves by; the rest they
regard as quite Utopian, and foreign to the purpose. ‘Subtle as the
fox for prey, like warlike as the wolf for what they eat,’ they leave
mere speculative points to those who, from some unaccountable bias
or caprice take an interest in what does not personally concern them,
and make good the old saying, that ‘the children of the world are
wiser in their generation than the children of the light!’
The man of the world is to the man of science very much what the
chamelion is to the armadillo: the one takes its hue from every
surrounding object, and is undistinguishable from them; the other is
shut up in a formal crust of knowledge, and clad in an armour of
proof, from which the shaft of ridicule or the edge of disappointment
falls equally pointless. It is no uncommon case to see a person come
into a room, which he enters awkwardly enough, and has nothing in
his dress or appearance to recommend him, but after the first
embarrassments are over, sits down, takes his share in the
conversation, in which he acquits himself creditably, shews sense,
reading, and shrewdness, expresses himself with point, articulates
distinctly, when he blunders on some topic which he might see is
disagreeable, but persists in it the more as he finds others shrink
from it; mentions a book of which you have not heard, and perhaps
do not wish to hear, and he therefore thinks himself bound to favour
you with the contents; gets into an argument with one, proses on
with another on a subject in which his hearer has no interest; and
when he goes away, people remark, ‘What a pity that Mr. —— has not
more knowledge of the world, and has so little skill in adapting
himself to the tone and manners of society!’ But will time and habit
cure him of this defect? Never. He wants a certain tact, he has not a
voluntary power over his ideas, but is like a person reading out of a
book, or who can only pour out the budget of knowledge with which
his brain is crammed in all places and companies alike. If you
attempt to divert his attention from the general subject to the
persons he is addressing, you puzzle and stop him quite. He is a mere
conversing automaton. He has not the sense of personality—the
faculty of perceiving the effect (as well as the grounds) of his
opinions; and how then should failure or mortification give it him? It
must be a painful reflection, and he must be glad to turn from it; or
after a few reluctant and unsuccessful efforts to correct his errors, he
will try to forget or harden himself in them. Finding that he makes so
slow and imperceptible a progress in amending his faults, he will
take his swing in the opposite direction, will triumph and revel in his
supposed excellences, will launch out into the wide, untrammelled
field of abstract speculation, and silence envious sneers and petty
cavils by force of argument and dint of importunity. You will find
him the same character at sixty that he was at thirty; or should time
soften down some of his asperities, and tire him of his absurdities as
he has tired others, nothing will transform him into a man of the
world, and he will die in a garret, or a paltry second-floor, from not
having been able to acquire the art ‘to see ourselves as others see us,’
or to dress his opinions, looks, and actions in the smiles and
approbation of the world. On the other hand, take a youth from the
same town (perhaps a school-fellow, and the dunce of the
neighbourhood); he has ‘no figures, nor no fantasies which busy
thought draws in the brains of men,’ no preconceived notions by
which he must square his conduct or his conversation, no dogma to
maintain in the teeth of opposition, no Shibboleth to which he must
force others to subscribe; the progress of science or the good of his
fellow-creatures are things about which he has not the remotest
conception, or the smallest particle of anxiety—
‘His soul proud science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk, or milky way;’
all that he sees or attends to is the immediate path before him, or

what can encourage or lend him a helping hand through it; his mind
is a complete blank, on which the world may write its maxims and
customs in what characters it pleases; he has only to study its
humours, flatter its prejudices, and take advantage of its foibles;
while walking the streets he is not taken up with solving an abstruse
problem, but with considering his own and the appearance of others;
instead of contradicting a patron, assents to all he hears; and in every
proposition that comes before him asks himself only what he can get
by it, and whether it will make him friends or enemies: such a one is
said to possess great penetration and knowledge of the world,
understands his place in society, gets on in it, rises from the counter
to the counting-house, from the dependant to be a partner, amasses
a fortune, gains in size and respectability as his affairs prosper, has
his town and country house, and ends with buying up half the estates
in his native county!
The great secret of a knowledge of the world, then, consists in a
subserviency to the will of others, and the primary motive to this
attention is a mechanical and watchful perception of our own
interest. It is not an art that requires a long course of study, the
difficulty is in putting one’s self apprentice to it. It does not surely
imply any very laborious or profound inquiry into the distinctions of
truth or falsehood, to be able to assent to whatever one hears; nor
any great refinement of moral feeling, to approve of whatever has
custom, power, or interest on its side. The only question is, ‘Who is
willing to do so?’—and the answer is, those who have no other
faculties or pretensions, either to stand in the way of or to assist their
progress through life. Those are slow to wear the livery of the world
who have any independent resources of their own. It is not that the
philosopher or the man of genius does not see and know all this, that
he is not constantly and forcibly reminded of it by his own failure or
the success of others, but he cannot stoop to practice it. He has a
different scale of excellence and mould of ambition, which has
nothing in common with current maxims and time-serving
calculations. He is a moral and intellectual egotist, not a mere
worldly-minded one. In youth, he has sanguine hopes and brilliant
dreams, which he cannot sacrifice for sordid realities—as he
advances farther in life, habit and pride forbid his turning back. He
cannot bring himself to give up his best-grounded convictions to a
blockhead, or his conscientious principles to a knave, though he
might make his fortune by so doing. The rule holds good here as well
as in another sense—‘What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole
world and lose his own soul?’ If his convictions and principles had
been less strong, they would have yielded long ago to the suggestions
of his interest, and he would have relapsed into the man of the world,
or rather he would never have had the temptation or capacity to be
any thing else. One thing that keeps men honest, as well as that
confirms them knaves, is their incapacity to do any better for
themselves than nature has done for them. One person can with
difficulty speak the truth, as another lies with a very ill grace. After
repeated awkward attempts to change characters, they each very
properly fall back into their old jog-trot path, as best suited to their
genius and habits.
There are individuals who make themselves and every one else
uncomfortable by trying to be agreeable, and who are only to be
endured in their natural characters of blunt, plain-spoken people.
Many a man would have turned rogue if he had known how. Non ex
quovis ligno fit Mercurius. The modest man cannot be impudent if
he would. The man of sense cannot play the fool to advantage. It is
not the mere resolution to act a part that will enable us to do it,
without a natural genius and fitness for it. Some men are born to be
valets, as others are to be courtiers. There is the climbing genus in
man as well as in plants. It is sometimes made a wonder how men of
‘no mark or likelihood’ frequently rise to court-preferment, and make
their way against all competition. That is the very reason. They
present no tangible point; they offend no feeling of self-importance.
They are a perfect unresisting medium of patronage and favour. They
aspire through servility; they repose in insignificance. A man of
talent or pretension in the same circumstances would be kicked out
in a week. A look that implied a doubt, a hint that suggested a
difference of opinion, would be fatal. It is of no use, in parleying with
absolute power, to dissemble, to suppress: there must be no feelings
or opinions to dissemble or suppress. The artifice of the dependant is
not a match for the jealousy of the patron: ‘The soul must be subdued
to the very quality of its lord.’ Where all is annihilated in the
presence of the sovereign, is it astonishing that nothings should
succeed? Ciphers are as necessary in courts as eunuchs in seraglios.
THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED

[December 8, 1827,
I do not think Mr. Cobbett would succeed in an interview with the

Prince. Bub Doddington said, ‘he would not justify before his
Sovereign,’ even where his own character was at stake. I am afraid we
could hardly reckon upon the same forbearance in Mr. Cobbett
where his country’s welfare was at stake, and where he had an
opportunity of vindicating it. He might have a great deal of reason on
his side; but he might forget, or seem to forget, that as the king is
above the law, he is also above reason. Reason is but a suppliant at
the foot of thrones, and waits for their approval or rebuke. Salus
populi suprema lex—may be a truism anywhere else. If reason dares
to approach them at all, it must be in the shape of deference and
humility, not of headstrong importunity and self-will. Instead of
breathless awe, of mild entreaty, of humble remonstrance, it is Mr.
Cobbett, who, upon very slight encouragement, would give the law,
and the monarch who must kiss the rod. The upstart, the bully, and
the dogmatist, would break out, and the King would assert himself.
The reformer would be too full of his own opinion to allow an option
even to Majesty, and the affair would have the same ending as that of
the old ballad—
‘Then the Queen overhearing what Betty did say,
Would send Mr. Roper to take her away.’
As I have brought Mr. Cobbett in here by the neck and shoulders, I

may add that I do not think he belongs properly to the class, either of
philosophical speculators, or men of the world. He is a political
humourist. He is too much taken up with himself either to attend to
right reason, or to judge correctly of what passes around him. He
mistakes strength of purpose and passion, not only for truth but for
success. Because he can give fifty good reasons for a thing, he thinks
it not only ought to be, but must be. Because he is swayed so entirely
by his wishes and humours, he believes others will be ready to give
up their prejudices, interests, and resentments to oblige him. He
persuades himself that he is the fittest person to represent
Westminster in parliament, and he considers this point (once
proved) tantamount to his return. He knows no more of the
disposition or sentiments of the people of Westminster than of the
inhabitants of the moon (except from what he himself chooses to say
or write of them), and it is this want of sympathy which, as much as
anything, prevents his being chosen. The exclusive force and bigotry
of his opinions deprives them of half their influence and effect, by
allowing no toleration to others, and consequently setting them
against him.
Mr. Cobbett seemed disappointed, at one time, at not succeeding
in the character of a legacy-hunter. Why, a person to succeed in this
character, ought to be a mere skin or bag to hold money, a place to
deposit it in, a shadow, a deputy, a trustee who keeps it for the
original owner—so that the transfer is barely nominal, and who, if he
were to return from the other world, would modestly yield it up—one
who has no personal identity of his own, no will to encroach upon or
dispose of it otherwise than his patron would wish after his death—
not a hair-brained egotist, a dashing adventurer, to squander, hector
and flourish away with it in wild schemes and ruinous experiments,
every one of them at variance with the opinions of the testator; in
new methods of turnip hoeing; in speculations in madder—this
would be to tear his soul from his body twice over—
‘His patron’s ghost from Limbo lake the while
Sees this which more damnation doth upon him pile!’
Mr. Cobbett complained, that in his last interview with Baron

Mazeres, that gentleman was in his dotage, and that the reverend
legatee sat at the bottom of the table, cutting a poor figure, and not
contradicting a word the Baron said. No doubt, as he has put this in
print in the exuberance of his dissatisfaction, he let both gentlemen
see pretty plainly what he thought of them, and fancied that this
expression of his contempt, as it gratified him, was the way to ensure
the good will of the one to make over his whole estate, or the good
word of the other to let him go snacks. This is a new way of being
quits with one’s benefactors, and an egregious quid pro quo. If Baron
Mazeres had left Mr. Cobbett 200,000l. it must have been not to
write his epitaph, or visit him in his last moments!
A gossiping chambermaid who only smiles and assents when her
mistress wishes her to talk, or an ignorant country clown who stands
with his hat off when he has a favour to ask of the squire, (and if he is
wise, at all other times,) knows more of the matter. A knowledge of
mankind is little more than the Scotch instinct of bowing, or of
‘never standing upright in the presence of a great man,’ or of that
great blockhead, the world. It is not a perception of truth, but a sense
of power, and an instant determination of the will to submit to it. It
is therefore less an intellectual acquirement than a natural
disposition. It is on this account that I think both cunning and
wisdom are a sort of original endowments, or attain maturity much
earlier than is supposed, from their being moral qualities, and having
their seat in the heart rather than the head. The difference depends
on the manner of seeing things. The one is a selfish, the other is a
disinterested view of nature. The one is the clear open look of
integrity, the other is a contracted and blear-eyed obliquity of mental
vision. If any one has but the courage and honesty to look at an
object as it is in itself, or divested of prejudice, fear, and favour, he
will be sure to see it pretty right; as he who regards it through the
refractions of opinion and fashion, will be sure to see it distorted and
falsified, however the error may rebound to his own advantage.
Certainly, he who makes the universe tributary to his convenience,
and subjects all his impressions of what is right or wrong, true or
false, black or white, round or square, to the standard and maxims of
the world, who never utters a proposition but he fancies a patron
close at his elbow who overhears him, who is even afraid, in private,
to suffer an honest conviction to rise in his mind, lest it should
mount to his lips, get wind, and ruin his prospects in life, ought to
gain something in exchange for the restraint and force put upon his
thoughts and faculties: on the contrary, he who is confined by no
such petty and debasing trammels, whose comprehension of mind is
‘in large heart enclosed,’ finds his inquiries and his views expand in a
degree commensurate with the universe around him; makes truth
welcome wherever he meets her, and receives her cordial embrace in
return. To see things divested of passion and interest, is to see them
with the eye of history and philosophy. It is easy to judge right, or at
least to come to a mutual understanding in matters of history and
abstract morality. Why then is it so difficult to arrive at the same
calm certainty in actual life? Because the passions and interests are
concerned, and it requires so much more candour, love of truth, and
independence of spirit to encounter ‘the world and its dread laugh,’
to throw aside every sinister consideration, and grapple with the
plain merits of the case. To be wiser than other men is to be honester
than they; and strength of mind is only courage to see and speak the
truth. Perhaps the courage may be also owing to the strength; but
both go together, and are natural, and not acquired. Do we not see in
fables the force of the moral principle in detecting the truth? The
only effect of fables is, by making inanimate or irrational things
actors in the scene, to remove the case completely from our own
sphere, to take our self-love off its guard, to simplify the question;
and yet the result of this obvious appeal is allowed to be universal
and irresistible. Is not this another example that ‘the heart of man is
deceitful above all things;’ or, that it is less our incapacity to
distinguish what is right, than our secret determination to adhere to
what is wrong, that prevents our discriminating one from the other?
It is not that great and useful truths are not manifest and discernible
in themselves; but little, dirty objects get between them and us, and
from being near and gross, hide the lofty and distant! The first
business of the patriot and the philanthropist is to overleap this
barrier, to rise out of this material dross. Indignation, contempt of
the base and grovelling, makes the philosopher no less than the poet;
and it is the power of looking beyond self that enables each to
inculcate moral truth and nobleness of sentiment, the one by general
precepts, the other by individual example.
I have no quarrel with men of the world, mere muck-worms: every
one after his fashion, ‘as the flesh and fortune shall serve;’ but I
confess I have a little distaste to those, who, having set out as loud
and vaunting enthusiasts, have turned aside to ‘tread the primrose
path of dalliance,’ and to revile those who did not choose to follow so
edifying an example. The candid brow and elastic spring of youth
may be exchanged for the wrinkles and crookedness of age; but at
least we should retain something of the erectness and openness of
our first unbiassed thoughts. I cannot understand how any degree of
egotism can dispense with the consciousness of personal identity. As
we advance farther in life, we are naturally inclined to revert in
imagination to its commencement; but what can those dwell upon
there who find only feelings that they despise, and opinions that they
have abjured? ‘If thine eye offend thee, pull it out and cast it from
thee:’ but the operation is a painful one, and the body remains after
it only a mutilated fragment. Generally, those who are cut off from
this resource in former recollections, make up for it (as well as they
can) by an exaggerated and uxorious fondness for their late-espoused
convictions—a thing unsightly and indecent! Why does he, who, at
one time, despises ‘the little chapel-bell,’ afterwards write ‘the Book
of the Church?’ The one is not an atonement for the other: each
shows only a juvenile or a superannuated precocity of judgment. It is
uniting Camille-Desmoulins and Camille-Jourdan, (Jourdan of the
Chimes) in one character. I should like (not out of malice, but from
curiosity) to see Mr. Southey re-write the beautiful poem on ‘his own
miniature-picture, when he was two years old,’ and see what he
would substitute for the lines—
‘And it was thought,
That thou shouldst tread preferment’s flowery path,
Young Robert!’
There must here, I think, be hiatus in manuscriptis: the verse

must halt a little! The laureate and his friends say that they are still
labouring on the same design as ever, correcting the outlines and
filling up the unfinished sketch of their early opinions. They seem
rather to have blotted them quite out, and to have taken a fresh
canvas to begin another and no less extravagant caricature. Or their
new and old theories remind one of those heads in picturedealers’
shops, where one half of the face is thoroughly cleaned and repaired,
and the other left covered with stains and dirt, to show the necessity
of the picture-scourer’s art: the transition offends the sight. It may be
made a question whether men grow wiser as they grow older, any
more than they grow stronger or healthier or honester. They may, in
one sense, imbibe a greater portion of worldly wisdom, and have
their romantic flights tamed to the level of every day’s practice and
experience; but perhaps it would be better if some of the
extravagance and enthusiasm of youth could be infused into the
latter, instead of being absorbed (perforce) in that sink of pride,
envy, selfishness, ignorance, conceit, prejudice, and hypocrisy. One
thing is certain, that this is the present course of events, and that if
the individual grows wiser as he gains experience, the world does
not, and that the tardy penitent who is treading back his steps, may
meet the world advancing as he is retreating, and adopting more and
more of the genuine impulses and disinterested views of youth into
its creed. It is, indeed, only by conforming to some such original and
unsophisticated standard, that it can acquire either soundness or
consistency. The appeal is a fair one, from the bad habits of society to
the unprejudiced aspirations and impressions of human nature.
THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED

[December 15, 1827.
It seems, in truth, a hard case to have all the world against us, and
to require uncommon fortitude (not to say presumption) to stand out
single against such a host. The bare suggestion must ‘give us pause,’
and has no doubt overturned many an honest conviction. The
opinion of the world, (as it pompously entitles itself,) if it means
anything more than a set of local and party prejudices, with which
only our interest, not truth, is concerned, is a shadow, a bugbear, and
a contradiction in terms. Having all the world against us, is a phrase
without a meaning; for in those points in which all the world agree,
no one differs from the world. If all the world were of the same way
of thinking, and always kept in the same mind, it would certainly be a
little staggering to have them against you. But however widely and
angrily they may differ from you, they differ as much so from one
another, and even from themselves. What is gospel at one moment,
is heresy the next:—different countries and climates have different
notions of things. When you are put on your trial, therefore, for
impugning the public opinion, you may always subpœna this great
body against itself. For example, I have been twitted for somewhere
calling Tom Paine a great writer, and no doubt his reputation at
present ‘does somewhat smack:’ yet in 1792 he was so great, or so
popular an author, and so much read and admired by numbers who
would not now mention his name, that the Government was obliged
to suspend the Constitution, and to go to war to counteract the
effects of his popularity. His extreme popularity was then the cause
(by a common and vulgar reaction) of his extreme obnoxiousness. If
the opinion of the world, then, contradicts itself, why may not I
contradict it, or choose at what time, and to what extent I will agree
with it? I have been accused of abusing dissenters, and saying that
sectaries, in general, are dry and suspicious; and I believe that all the
world will say the same thing except themselves. I have said that the
church people are proud and overbearing, which has given them
umbrage, though in this I have all the sectaries on my side. I have
laughed at the Methodists, and for this I have been accused of
glancing at religion: yet who does not laugh at the Methodists as well
as myself? But I also laugh at those who laugh at them. I have
pointed out by turns the weak sides and foibles of different sects and
parties, and they themselves maintain that they are perfect and
infallible: and this is what is called having all the world against me. I
have inveighed all my life against the insolence of the Tories, and for
this I have the authority both of Whigs and Reformers; but then I
have occasionally spoken against the imbecility of the Whigs, and the
extravagance of the Reformers, and thus have brought all three on
my back, though two out of the three regularly agree with all I say of
the third party. Poets do not approve of what I have said of their
turning prose-writers; nor do the politicians approve of my tolerating
the fooleries of the fanciful tribe at all: so they make common cause
to damn me between them. People never excuse the drawbacks from
themselves, nor the concessions to an adversary: such is the justice
and candour of mankind! Mr. Wordsworth is not satisfied with the
praise I have heaped upon himself, and still less, that I have allowed
Mr. Moore to be a poet at all. I do not think I have ever set my face
against the popular idols of the day; I have been among the foremost
in crying up Mrs. Siddons, Kean, Sir Walter Scott, Madame Pasta,
and others; and as to the great names of former times, my
admiration has been lavish, and sometimes almost mawkish. I have
dissented, it is true, in one or two instances; but that only shows that
I judge for myself, not that I make a point of contradicting the
general taste. I have been more to blame in trying to push certain
Illustrious Obscure into notice:—they have not forgiven the
obligation, nor the world the tacit reproach. As to my personalities,
they might quite as well be termed impersonalities. I am so intent on
the abstract proposition and its elucidation, that I regard everything
else as of very subordinate consequence: my friends, I conceive, will
not refuse to contribute to so laudable an undertaking, and my
enemies must! I have found fault with the French, I have found fault
with the English; and pray, do they not find great, mutual, and just
fault with one another? It may seem a great piece of arrogance in any
one, to set up his individual and private judgment against that of ten
millions of people; but cross the channel, and you will have thirty
millions on your side. Even should the thirty millions come over to
the opinions of the ten, (a thing that may happen to-morrow,) still
one need not despair. I remember my old friend Peter Finnerty,
laughing very heartily at something I had written about the Scotch,
but it was followed up by a sketch of the Irish, on which he closed the
book, looked grave, and said he disapproved entirely of all national
reflections. Thus you have all the world on your side, except when it
is the party concerned. What any set of people think or say of
themselves is hardly a rule for others: yet, if you do not attach
yourself to some one set of people and principles, and stick to them
through thick and thin, instead of giving your opinion fairly and fully
all round, you must expect to have all the world against you, for no
other reason than because you express sincerely, and for their good,
not only what they say of others, but what is said of themselves,
which they would fain keep a profound secret, and prevent the
divulging of it under the severest pains and penalties. When I told J
—— that I had composed a work in which I had ‘in some sort
handled’ about a score of leading characters, he said, ‘Then you will
have one man against you, and the remaining nineteen for you!’ I
have not found it so. In fact, these persons would agree pretty nearly
to all that I say, and allow that, in nineteen points out of twenty, I am
right; but the twentieth, that relates to some imperfection of their
own, weighs down all the rest, and produces an unanimous verdict
against the author. There is but one thing in which the world agree, a
certain bigoted blindness, and conventional hypocrisy, without
which, according to Mandeville, (that is, if they really spoke what
they thought and knew of one another,) they would fall to cutting
each other’s throats immediately.
We find the same contrariety and fluctuation of opinion in
different ages, as well as countries and classes. For about a thousand
years, during ‘the high and palmy state’ of the Romish hierarchy, it
was agreed (nemine contradicente) that two and two made five:
afterwards, for above a century, there was great battling and
controversy to prove that they made four and a half; then, for a
century more, it was thought a great stride taken to come down to
four and a quarter; and, perhaps, in another century or two, it will be
discovered for a wonder that two and two actually make four! It is
said, that this slow advance and perpetual interposition of
impediments is a salutary check to the rashness of innovation, and to
hazardous experiments. At least, it is a very effectual one, amounting
almost to a prohibition. One age is employed in building up an
absurdity, and the next exhausts all its wit and learning, zeal and
fury, in battering it down, so that at the end of two generations you
come to the point where you set out, and have to begin again. These
heats and disputes about external points of faith may be things of no
consequence, since under all the variations of form or doctrine the
essentials of practice remain the same. It does not seem so; at any
rate, the non-essentials appear to excite all the interest, and ‘keep
this dreadful pudder o’er our heads;’ and when the dogma is once
stripped of mystery and intolerance, and reduced to common sense,
no one appears to take any further notice of it.
The appeal, then, to the authority of the world, chiefly resolves
itself into the old proverb, that ‘when you are at Rome you must do
as those at Rome do;’ that is, it is a shifting circle of local prejudices
and gratuitous assumptions, a successful conformity to which is best
insured by a negation of all other qualities that might interfere with
it: solid reason and virtue are out of the question. But it may be
insisted, that there are qualities of a more practical order that may
greatly contribute to and facilitate our advancement in life, such as
presence of mind, convivial talents, insight into character, thorough
acquaintance with the profounder principles and secret springs of
society, and so forth. I do not deny that all this may be of advantage
in extraordinary cases, and often abridge difficulties; but I do not
think that it is either necessary or generally useful. For instance,
habitual caution and reserve is a surer resource than that presence of
mind, or quick-witted readiness of expedient, which, though it gets
men out of scrapes, as often leads them into them by begetting a false
confidence. Persons of agreeable and lively talents often find to their
cost that one indiscretion procures them more enemies then ten
agreeable sallies do friends. A too great penetration into character is
less desirable than a certain power of hoodwinking ourselves to their
defects, unless the former is accompanied with a profound hypocrisy,
which is also liable to detection and discomfiture: and as to general
maxims and principles of worldly knowledge, I conceive that an
instinctive sympathy with them is much more profitable than their
incautious discovery and formal announcement. Thus, the politic
rule, ‘When a great wheel goes up a hill, cling fast to it; when a great
wheel runs down a hill, let go your hold of it,’ may be useful as a hint
or warning to the shyness or fidelity of an Englishman; a North
Briton feels its truth instinctively, and acts upon it unconsciously.
When it is observed in the History of a Foundling, that ‘Mr.
Alworthy had done so many charitable actions that he had made
enemies of the whole parish,’ the sarcasm is the dictate of a generous
indignation at ingratitude rather than a covert apology for selfish
niggardliness. Misanthropic reflections have their source in
philanthropic sentiments; the real despiser of the world keeps up
appearances with it, and is at pains to varnish over its vices and
follies, even to himself, lest his secret should be betrayed, and do him
an injury. Those who see completely into the world begin to play
tricks with it, and overreach themselves by being too knowing: it is
even possible to out-cant it, and get laughed at that way. Fielding
knew something of the world, yet he did not make a fortune. Sir
Walter Scott has twice made a fortune by descriptions of nature and
character, and has twice lost it by the same fondness for speculative
gains. Wherever there is a strong faculty for anything, the exercise of
that faculty becomes its own end and reward, and produces an
indifference or inattention to other things; so that the best security
for success in the world is an incapacity for success in any other way.
A bookseller to succeed in his business should have no knowledge of
books, except as marketable commodities: the instant he has a taste,
an opinion of his own on the subject, he may consider himself as a
ruined man. In like manner, a picture-dealer should know nothing of
pictures but the catalogue price, the cant of the day. The moment he
has a feeling for the art, he will be tenacious of it: a Guido, a Salvator
‘will be the fatal Cleopatra for which he will lose all he is worth, and
be content to lose it.’ Should a general then know nothing of war, a
physician of medicine? No: because this is an art and not a trick, and
the one has to contend with nature, and the other with an enemy,
and not to pamper or cajole the follies of the world. It requires also
great talents to overturn the world; not, to push one’s fortune in it: to
rule the state like Cromwell or Buonaparte; not, to rise in it like
Castlereagh or Croker. Yet, even in times of crisis and convulsion, he
who outrages the feeling of the moment and echoes the wildest
extravagance, succeeds; as, in times of peace and tranquillity, he
does so who acquiesces most tamely in the ordinary routine of
things. This may serve to point out another error, common to men of
the world, who sometimes, giving themselves credit for more virtue
than they possess, declare very candidly that if they had to begin life
over again, they would have been great rogues. The answer to this is,
that then they would have been hanged! No: the way to get on in the
world is to be neither more nor less wise, neither better nor worse
than your neighbours, neither to be a ‘reformer nor a house-breaker,’
neither to advance before the age nor lag behind it, but to be as like it
as possible, to reflect its image and superscription at every turn, and
then you will be its darling and its delight, and it will dandle you and
fondle you, and make much of you, as a monkey doats upon its
young! The knowledge of vice—that is, of statutable vice—is not the
knowledge of the world: otherwise a Bow-street runner and the
keeper of a house of ill fame, would be the most knowing characters,
and would soon rise above their professions.

Current Trends and Future Developments On Bio Membranes Membrane Technology For Water and Wastewater Treatment Advances and Emerging Processes Angelo Basile Antonio Comite Full Chapter

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Current Trends and Future Developments On Bio Membranes Membrane Technology For Water and Wastewater Treatment Advances and Emerging Processes Angelo Basile Antonio Comite Full Chapter

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Current Trends and Future

Developments on (Bio-) Membranes

For Information on all Elsevier publications

Publisher: Susan Dennis

List of contributors .............................................................................................. xiii

Part I Advances in novel membrane technologies for water

Chapter 1: Wastewater treatment by membrane distillation ..................................... 3

Chapter 2: Integration of membranes into bioelectrochemical systems for

Chapter 3: Forward osmosis for water treatment and desalination.......................... 53

List of symbols ........................................................................................................... 77

Chapter 4: Photocatalytic membrane reactors for wastewater treatment ................. 83

Chapter 5: Inorganic materials for upcoming water purification

5.4 Nanofiltration membranes for harsh environments ......................................... 126

Chapter 6: Electrodialysis for wastewater treatment—Part I: Fundamentals

Part II Advances in membrane technologies for industrial

Chapter 7: Electrodialysis for wastewater treatment—Part II: Industrial

Chapter 8: RO membranes for small-scale water purifiers .....................................243

8.3 Reverse osmosis membrane applications in water purification ...................... 247

Chapter 9: Dairy wastewater treatment using composite membranes .....................261

Chapter 10: Membrane technology for brewery wastewater treatment ..................289

10.4 Membrane filtration ....................................................................................... 293

Index ............................................................................................................ 305

Pietro Argurio Department of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, University of Calabria,

Marcello Pagliero Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genoa,

Wastewater treatment by membrane

Current Trends and Future Developments on (Bio-) Membranes.

1.2 Overview of membrane distillation

1.3 Membrane distillation configurations

Cf, solute Cp, solvent Cf , solute

VMD Feed SGMD Feed Sweep gas

Air gap Condensed

be influenced by the presence of organic molecules, and in particular of oils and

1.5 Membrane modules

Capillary membranes Feed

Resin Feed Spacer

potting Permeate Permeate Concentrate

1.6 Wastewater treatment by membrane distillation

1.6.1 Parameters affecting membrane distillation performance

In desalination MD performance is generally affected by the process, membrane, and

1.6.2 Desalination and brine treatment

1.6.3 Industrial wastewater treatment

Industrial wastewater is usually treated to meet the discharge limits imposed by

1.6.3.1 Radioactive wastewater

The London Weekly Review.]

1. Why is the word comfort so continually in the mouths of the

The London Weekly Review.]

A knowledge of the world is generally supposed to be the fruit of

all that he sees or attends to is the immediate path before him, or

The London Weekly Review.]

I do not think Mr. Cobbett would succeed in an interview with the

As I have brought Mr. Cobbett in here by the neck and shoulders, I

Mr. Cobbett complained, that in his last interview with Baron

There must here, I think, be hiatus in manuscriptis: the verse

The London Weekly Review.]

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